a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a water manifold for the connection of a heater thereto, as well as to the combination of such a water manifold and a heater.
Though this invention relates both to a water manifold and a heater which may be connected to the manifold, in general terms (but not exclusively) the invention concerns the provision of a heated towel rail or holder, for example for use in a domestic bathroom. As such, the invention will hereinafter be described mainly with reference to heated towel rails or holders, though it will be understood that the invention may find uses elsewhere. Further, the terms towel rail and towel holder are used more or less interchangeably, as the context requires, to refer to apparatus for the temporary storage of a towel within a domestic environment, between uses of the towel.
b) Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, a heated towel rail for a bathroom has a pair of upright tubes connected to a domestic hot-water heating system, there being at least one but usually two or more horizontal tubes extending between the upright tubes and through which heated water flows, so that towels hung on the horizontal tubes will be heated and dried. Increasingly, there are calls for more aesthetically-pleasing equipment for use in a domestic environment and as such, towel rails of more attractive designs have been proposed. However, many of these may be difficult to connect to a domestic hot-water heating system, or cannot be used if there is no such heating system.
Bearing in mind the above, one of the aims of the present invention is to provide a water manifold which may be used for the connection of a heater such as a heated towel rail thereto.